Throughout its history the constituency consisted primarily of the area of County Dublin, excluding the area of Dublin city. However, at various points it also included some territory from within the boundaries of Dublin City, which were expanded under the Local Government (Dublin) Act, 1930.[1]

The Electoral (Revision of Constituencies) Act 1935 followed the removal from the county to the city of heavily populated suburbs from former Pembroke Township. Most of those areas became part of a new 3 seat Dublin Townships constituency, but some wards which had become part of the city remained within the county constituency. The 1935 Act defined the new boundaries of the constituency as "The administrative County of Dublin. The following townlands or portions of townlands comprised in the County Borough of Dublin: Annefield, Crumlin, Kimmage (parish of Crumlin), Kimmage (parish of Rathfarnham), Larkfield, Newtown Little, Priesthouse, Rathfarnham, Saint Lawrence, Simmonscourt, Stannaway, Terenure and Tonguefield".[3] These boundaries took effect at the 1937 general election.

1948–1961 (3 seats)

The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1947 reduced the size of the constituency, removing most of the areas within the boundary of Dublin city, and removing a further substantial area in the south of the county to form the new Dún Laoghaire and Rathdown constituency. A further area in the North–East of the county, from Killester to Malahide to Howth, was removed to a new Dublin North-East constituency. The boundaries were formally defined as "The Beann Eadair ward and the administrative county of Dublin except the portion thereof which is comprised in the county constituency of Dun Laoghaire and Rathdown and the portion thereof which is comprised in the borough constituency of Dublin North (East)".[4] These boundaries took effect at the 1948 general election.

1961–1969 (5 seats)

The Electoral (Amendment) Act 1961 expanded the constituency boundaries again, restoring the areas which had been removed to Dublin North-East and adding part of Ballyfermot. The new boundaries were defined as "The administrative county of Dublin, except the part thereof which is comprised in the county constituency of Dun Laoghaire and Rathdown; and the part of the Ballyfermot ward in the county borough of Dublin which is not included in the borough constituency of Dublin South-West."[5] These boundaries took effect at the 1961 general election.

Note: The columns in this table are used only for presentational purposes, and no significance should be attached to the order of columns. For details of the order in which seats were won at each election, see the detailed results of that election.

^ abWalker (1992) lists the size of the electorate in Dublin County as 110,840 in June 1927 and 100,840 in September 1927. The scale of difference in such a sort period of time and the fact that difference is a exactly 10,000 suggests that one or other of these figures may be the result of a typographical error.

1.
Parliament of Southern Ireland
–
The Parliament of Southern Ireland was a Home Rule legislature set up by the British Government during the Irish War of Independence under the Fourth Home Rule Bill. The Parliament was bicameral, consisting of a House of Commons with 128 seats, the Parliament as two houses sat only once, in the Royal College of Science for Ireland in Merrion Street. Due to the low turnout of members attending, the Parliament was adjourned sine die and was officially disbanded by the Irish Free State Act 1922. Under the Act of Union 1800 the separate Kingdoms of Ireland and Great Britain were merged on 1 January 1801, to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain, throughout the 19th century Irish opposition to the Union was strong, occasionally erupting in violent insurrection. In the 1870s the Home Rule League under Isaac Butt sought to achieve a modest form of self-government and this was considered far more acceptable as Ireland would still remain part of the United Kingdom but would have limited self-government. The First Home Rule Bill was defeated in the Commons by 30 votes, the second Second Home Rule Bill was passed, but then defeated in the Lords. On 11 April 1912, the Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith, initially the suspension was not considered an issue by Nationalists, who believed independent self-government had finally been granted and that the war was to be a short one. It consisted of Nationalist and Unionist representatives who, by April 1918, long proposed the creation of two Irish home rule entities, Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland, each with unicameral parliaments. The government opposed this on the grounds that it would weaken the function of the inter-parliament Council of Ireland and it consisted of 128 members who were styled as being members of parliament and whose presiding officer was to be known as the Speaker of the House of Commons. The basic features of the House were constructed from those of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom which was structured in a similar manner, the borough and county constituencies replaced those used for Westminster elections with new multi-member ones. The University seats were broken down into 4 for the University of Dublin and 4 for the National University of Ireland. On 24 May 1921, elections were held for the House of Commons of Southern Ireland, simultaneously with elections for Northern Ireland, the Irish Republic chose to regard that election as elections to the Second Dáil. The 124 Sinn Féin candidates elected, plus the six Sinn Féin members elected to the House of Commons of Northern Ireland elected at the same time, in reality only four Unionist MPs attended. Having elected Gerald Fitzgibbon to be Speaker, the House adjourned sine die and this was the only formal meeting of the House. The Anglo-Irish Treaty was signed in London on 6 December 1921 by representatives of the British Government, the Dáil Éireann for the de facto Irish Republic also ratified the Treaty. The Provisional Government of the Irish Free State was constituted on 14 January 1922 at a meeting of members of the Parliament elected for constituencies in Southern Ireland in the Mansion House. Notably, the meeting was convened by Arthur Griffith as Chairman of the Irish Delegation of Plenipotentiaries under the terms of the Treaty, collins was installed in his post by the Lord Lieutenant in Dublin Castle on 16 January 1922. The MPs in the Commons were also required to take the British Oath of Allegiance however, the Senate of Southern Ireland was the upper house of the Parliament of Southern Ireland established by the 1920 Fourth Home Rule Bill

2.
Dublin
–
Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland. Dublin is in the province of Leinster on Irelands east coast, the city has an urban area population of 1,345,402. The population of the Greater Dublin Area, as of 2016, was 1,904,806 people, founded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin became Irelands principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800, following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, later renamed Ireland. Dublin is administered by a City Council, the city is listed by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network as a global city, with a ranking of Alpha-, which places it amongst the top thirty cities in the world. It is a historical and contemporary centre for education, the arts, administration, economy, the name Dublin comes from the Irish word Dubhlinn, early Classical Irish Dubhlind/Duibhlind, dubh /d̪uβ/, alt. /d̪uw/, alt /d̪u, / meaning black, dark, and lind /lʲiɲ pool and this tidal pool was located where the River Poddle entered the Liffey, on the site of the castle gardens at the rear of Dublin Castle. In Modern Irish the name is Duibhlinn, and Irish rhymes from Dublin County show that in Dublin Leinster Irish it was pronounced Duílinn /d̪ˠi, other localities in Ireland also bear the name Duibhlinn, variously anglicized as Devlin, Divlin and Difflin. Historically, scribes using the Gaelic script wrote bh with a dot over the b and those without knowledge of Irish omitted the dot, spelling the name as Dublin. Variations on the name are found in traditionally Irish-speaking areas of Scotland, such as An Linne Dhubh. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. Baile Átha Cliath, meaning town of the ford, is the common name for the city in modern Irish. Áth Cliath is a name referring to a fording point of the River Liffey near Father Mathew Bridge. Baile Átha Cliath was an early Christian monastery, believed to have been in the area of Aungier Street, there are other towns of the same name, such as Àth Cliath in East Ayrshire, Scotland, which is Anglicised as Hurlford. Although the area of Dublin Bay has been inhabited by humans since prehistoric times and he called the settlement Eblana polis. It is now thought that the Viking settlement was preceded by a Christian ecclesiastical settlement known as Duibhlinn, beginning in the 9th and 10th century, there were two settlements where the modern city stands. The subsequent Scandinavian settlement centred on the River Poddle, a tributary of the Liffey in an area now known as Wood Quay, the Dubhlinn was a small lake used to moor ships, the Poddle connected the lake with the Liffey. This lake was covered during the early 18th century as the city grew, the Dubhlinn lay where the Castle Garden is now located, opposite the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin Castle

3.
Malahide
–
Malahide is a middle-class coastal suburban town outside Dublin city in Fingal, Ireland. It is also a parish in the ancient barony of Coolock. There are extensive areas to the south, southeast and west of the village. The modern name Malahide may come from Mullach Íde meaning the hill of Íde or Ídes sand-hill and it could also mean Sand-hills of the Hydes probably referring to a Norman family from the Donabate area. According to the Placenames Database of Ireland the name Malahide is possibly derived from the Irish Baile Átha Thíd meaning the town of the ford of Thíd, Malahide Bay was anciently called Inber Domnann, the river-mouth of the Fir Domnann. Malahide is situated 16 kilometres north of the city of Dublin and it is situated on the Broadmeadow estuary, on the opposite side of which is Donabate. The village is served by the DART and the train, run by Irish Rail, the Dublin Bus 32,42 and 102, the 32X and 142 peak hour express services, and 42N Nite-Link route serve the town from Dublin City Centre. Route 102 serves local areas to / from Dublin Airport and Sutton Station, with the arrival of the Anglo-Normans, the last Danish King of Dublin retired to the area in 1171. There is an ancient covered well, St. Sylvesters, on the old main street, the office was hereditary, and the familys right to act as Admiral was confirmed by the Court of Exchequer in 1639. By 1831, the population had reached 1223, the area grew in popularity in Georgian times as a seaside resort for wealthy Dublin city dwellers. This is still evident today from the collection of Georgian houses in the town and along the seafront. In the 1960s, developers began to build housing estates around the core of Malahide, launching the first. Further estates followed, to the northwest, south and west, Malahide grew from a population to 1500 in 1960 and by 2011 had a population of 15,846, and is still a rapidly growing town for the Dublin area. Most of the population lives outside the village, in residential areas such as Seapark, Biscayne, Robswall, Chalfont, Ard Na Mara, Millview, Yellow Walls Road, Seabury. Malahide has a percentage of professionals living in it than any other town in Ireland. Malahide came top of the charts with the highest proportion of residents classified as employers, managers. These groups combined, make up 41. 3% of Malahides population, in Malahide village there are extensive retail facilities and services including fashion boutiques, hair and beauty salons, florists, food outlets, and a small shopping centre. There is a selection of pubs and restaurants and the 203-room Grand Hotel

4.
Howth
–
Howth is a village and outer suburb of Dublin, Ireland. The district occupies the part of the peninsula of Howth Head. It is also a parish in the ancient barony of Coolock. Originally just a fishing village, Howth with its surrounding once-rural district is now a busy suburb of Dublin, with a mix of dense residential development. The only neighbouring district on land is Sutton, Howth is also home to one of the oldest occupied buildings in Ireland, Howth Castle. Howth has been a location for movies such as The Last of the High Kings, Boy Eats Girl. Howth is located on the peninsula of Howth Head, which begins around 13 kilometres east-north-east of Dublin, Howth is at the end of a regional road from Dublin and is one of the two northern termini of the DART suburban rail system. It is served by Dublin Bus, the name Howth is thought to be of Norse origin, perhaps being derived from the Old Norse Hǫfuð. Norse vikings colonised the eastern shores of Ireland and built the settlement of Dublin as a base between Scandinavia and the Mediterranean. Norse Vikings first invaded Howth in 819, after Brian Ború, the High King of Ireland, defeated the Norse in 1014, many Norse fled to Howth to regroup and remained a force until their final defeat in Fingal in the middle of the 11th century. Howth still remained under the control of Irish and localized Norse forces until the invasion of Ireland by the Anglo-Normans in 1169, without the support of either the Irish or Scandinavian powers, Howth was isolated and fell to the Normans in 1177. One of the victorious Normans, Armoricus Tristam, was granted much of the land between the village and Sutton, Tristam took on the name of the saint on whose feast day the battle was won - St Lawrence. He built his first castle near the harbour and the St. Lawrence link remains even today, the original title of Baron of Howth was granted to Almeric St. Lawrence by Henry II of England in 1181, for one Knights fee. Howth was a port from at least the 14th century. A popular tale concerns the pirate Gráinne OMalley, who was rebuffed in 1576 while attempting a courtesy visit to Howth Castle, in retaliation, she abducted the Earls grandson and heir, and as ransom she exacted a promise that unanticipated guests would never be turned away again. In the early 19th century, Howth was chosen as the location for the harbour for the packet ship. One of the arguments used against Howth by the advocates of Dún Laoghaire was that coaches might be raided in the badlands of Sutton, however, due to silting, the harbour needed frequent dredging to accommodate the packet and eventually the service was relocated to Dún Laoghaire. George IV visited the harbour in August 1821, on the 26 July 1914,900 rifles were landed at Howth by Robert Erskine Childers for the Irish Volunteers

5.
Irish elections, 1921
–
Two elections in Ireland took place in 1921, as a result of the Government of Ireland Act 1920 to establish the House of Commons of Northern Ireland and the House of Commons of Southern Ireland. The election was used by Irish Republicans as the basis of membership of the Second Dáil, where contested, the elections used single transferable vote. No actual polling took place in Southern Ireland as all 128 candidates were returned unopposed, of these,124 were won by Sinn Féin and four by independent Unionists representing the University of Dublin. Other members had replied How do you know, only Sinn Féin candidates recognised the Dáil and five of these had been elected in two constituencies one in each part of Ireland. The total number of members who assembled in the Second Dáil was 125,119 elected solely in Southern Ireland,1 solely in Northern Ireland, in Southern Ireland, there were fresh elections in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. The general election to the Northern Ireland House of Commons occurred on 24 May, of 52 seats, including Queens University of Belfast,40 were won by Unionists,6 by moderate nationalists and 6 by Sinn Féin. Members of the 2nd Dáil Government of the 2nd Dáil Irish general election,1918

6.
Labour Party (Ireland)
–
The Labour Party is a social-democratic political party in the Republic of Ireland. Unlike the other main Irish political parties, Labour did not arise as a faction of the original Sinn Féin party. This gives Labour a cumulative total of nineteen years served as part of a government, the current party leader is Brendan Howlin. It is currently the fourth largest party in Dáil Éireann, with seven seats, the Labour Party is a member of the Progressive Alliance, Socialist International, and Party of European Socialists. In 1912 James Connolly, James Larkin and William OBrien established the Irish Labour Party as the wing of the Irish Trade Union Congress. This party was to represent the workers in the expected Dublin Parliament under the Third Home Rule Act 1914, the Irish Citizen Army, formed during the 1913 Lockout, was informally the military wing of the Labour Movement. The ICA took part in the 1916 Rising, councillor Richard OCarroll, a Labour Party member of Dublin Corporation, was the only elected representative to be killed during the Easter Rising. OCarroll was shot and died days later on 5 May 1916. The ICA was revived during Peadar ODonnells Republican Congress but after the 1935 split in the Congress most ICA members joined the Labour Party. The British Labour Party had previously organised in Ireland, but in 1913 the Labour NEC agreed that the Irish Labour Party would have organising rights over the entirety of Ireland. A group of trade unionists in Belfast objected and the Belfast Labour Party, in Larkins absence, William OBrien became the dominant figure in the Irish Transport and General Workers Union and wielded considerable influence in the Labour Party. OBrien also dominated the Irish Trade Union Congress and it also refrained from contesting the 1921 elections. As a result, the party was left outside Dáil Éireann during the years of the independence struggle. The Anglo-Irish Treaty divided the Labour Party, some members sided with the Irregulars in the Irish Civil War that quickly followed. OBrien and Johnson encouraged its members to support the Treaty, in the 1922 general election the party won 17 seats. However, there were a number of strikes during the first year, in the 1923 general election the Labour Party only won 14 seats. From 1922 until Fianna Fáil TDs took their seats in 1927, Labour attacked the lack of social reform by the Cumann na nGaedheal government. In 1923 Larkin returned to Ireland and he hoped to take over the leadership role he had left, but OBrien resisted him

7.
County Dublin
–
County Dublin is a former county in Ireland. It is conterminous with the Dublin Region and is in the province of Leinster and it is named after the city of Dublin, which is the regional capital and the capital city of Ireland. County Dublin was one of the first parts of Ireland to be shired by John, prior to 1994 County Dublin was also an administrative unit covering the whole county outside of Dublin City Council. In 1994 Dublin County Council was abolished and replaced with three separate administrative county councils, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin, the total population of the three aforementioned counties and Dublin city was 1,345,402 according to the census of 2016. Since the abolition of the Dublin Regional Assembly by statutory instrument No, 573/2014, the Eurostat statistical region known as Dublin Region falls under the remit of the wider Eastern and Midland Regional Authority. There are four local authorities whose remit collectively encompasses the area of the county and city of Dublin. These are Dublin City Council, South Dublin County Council, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, prior to the enactment of the Local Government Act 1993, the county was a unified whole even though it was administered by two local authorities - Dublin County Council and Dublin Corporation. They rank equally as first level administrative units of the NUTS3 Dublin Region for Eurostat purposes. There are 34 LAU1 entities in the Republic of Ireland, each local authority is responsible for certain local services such as sanitation, planning and development, libraries, the collection of motor taxation, local roads and social housing. Dublin County Council was abolished in 1994 and the area divided among the counties of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal. To these areas may be added the area of Dublin city which collectively comprise the Dublin Region, the area lost its administrative county status in 1994, with Section 9 Part 1 of the Local Government Act,1993 stating that the county shall cease to exist. I am not sure whether Dubliners realise that that is what we are about today, the county is part of the Dublin constituency for the purposes of European elections. Together they return 44 deputies to the Dáil, despite the legal status of the Dublin Region, the term County Dublin is still in common usage. Many organisations and sporting teams continue to organise on a County Dublin or Dublin Region basis, the term Greater Dublin Area, which might consist of some or all of the Dublin Region along with counties of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow, has no legal standing. The Dublin Region is a NUTS Level III region of Ireland, the region is one of eight regions of the Republic of Ireland for the purposes of Eurostat statistics. It is co-extensive with the old county, the regional capital is Dublin City which is also the national capital. The latest Ordnance Survey Ireland Discovery Series 1,50,000 map of the Dublin Region, Sheet 50, shows the boundaries of the city and three surrounding counties of the region. Extremities of the Dublin Region, in the north and south of the region, Local radio stations include 98FM, FM104,103.2 Dublin City FM, Q102, SPIN1038, Sunshine 106.8, TXFM, Raidió Na Life and Radio Nova

8.
Irish general election, 1923
–
The Irish general election of 1923 was held on 27 August 1923. The newly elected members of the 4th Dáil assembled at Leinster House on 19 September when the new President of the Executive Council, the election was held just after the end of the Irish Civil War. Many of the Republican TDs, who represented the losing anti-Treaty side, were imprisoned during. Cumann na nGaedheal, who represented the side in the war, also won the election. Cumann na nGaedheal minority government formed, most parties made gains, in part because the total number of seats in the Dáil was increased by 25 from 128 to 153. Cumann na nGaedheal were able to form a minority government while Republicans abstained from taking their seats in the Dáil, lax electoral practices were tightened up beforehand by the new The Prevention of Electoral Abuses Act,1923

9.
Irish general election, 1948
–
The Irish general election of 1948 was held on 4 February 1948. The 147 newly elected members of the 13th Dáil assembled on 18 February when the First Inter-Party government in the history of the Irish state was appointed, the general election took place in 40 parliamentary constituencies throughout Ireland for 147 seats in the lower house of parliament, Dáil Éireann. For this election the membership of the Dáil was increased to 147 seats, the 1948 general election is considered an important election in 20th-century Ireland, as it paved the way for the First Inter-Party Government. The general election of 1948 was caused by a desire by the Taoiseach Éamon de Valera, to stop the rise of a new party, in 1947 the rapid rise of Clann na Poblachta threatened the position of Fianna Fáil. The result was described by historian Tim Pat Coogan as a blatant attempt at gerrymander which no Six County Unionist could have bettered, a number of other issues were raised on the campaign that the parties didnt foresee. Fianna Fáil had enjoyed an uninterrupted sixteen years of dominance in government, many people believed that the party had become stale and there was a strong desire for a fresh change. Although World War II had ended three years earlier, rationing continued, and massive inflation plagued the economy, a prolonged teachers strike during the lifetime of the previous Dáil damaged the government due to its inability to settle the dispute. Bad weather added to the woes of the farmers, and poor harvests resulted in anger at the ballot box, allegations that Éamon de Valera and Seán Lemass were involved in bribery and corruption raised questions about certain public officials. Despite these issues, Fianna Fáil still expected to retain power and this prospect seemed very likely, however, an unlikely coalition was soon to be formed. When the votes were counted Fianna Fáil remained the largest party in spite of dropping 8 seats, Clann na Poblachta secured ten seats instead of the nineteen they would have received proportional to their vote. The other parties remained roughly the same, with Fine Gael only gaining an extra seat, Fianna Fáil remained the largest party and it looked as if it were the only one capable of forming a government. The election left de Valera six seats short of a majority in the 147 seat Dáil, Fianna Fáil had long refused to enter a formal coalition with another party, instead preferring confidence and supply agreements with other parties when it was short of an outright majority. This time, however, de Valera was unable to reach an agreement with National Labour and it seemed unlikely that the other political parties could join together to oust Fianna Fáil. However, the leaders of the other parties discovered that between them, they only had one fewer than Fianna Fáil. If they could get the support of at least seven independents, on paper, such a motley coalition appeared politically unrealistic. However, a dislike of Fianna Fáil and de Valera overcame all other difficulties to knock Fianna Fáil from power for the first time in 16 years. As the largest party in the coalition, it was a conclusion that Fine Gael would provide the nominee for Taoiseach. The natural choice was the party leader, Richard Mulcahy, however, republicans such as Seán MacBride refused to serve under the man who had been the commander of the Free State forces during the civil war

10.
Irish general election, 1969
–
The Irish general election of 1969 was held on 18 June 1969. The newly elected members of the 19th Dáil assembled at Leinster House on 2 July when the new Taoiseach, the general election took place in 42 parliamentary constituencies throughout Ireland for 144 seats in the lower house of parliament, Dáil Éireann. The general election of 1969 saw two new leaders of the two main parties fight their first general election, Jack Lynch of Fianna Fáil had become Taoiseach in 1966 and was attempting to win his first election. Liam Cosgrave had taken charge of Fine Gael in 1965 and was now leading his party into his first election, brendan Corish was fighting his third general election as leader of the Labour Party. Fianna Fáil had been in power since 1957, and in spite of media predictions the party was very popular with the voters. Its leader Jack Lynch proved to be the partys biggest electoral asset and his quiet, easy-going and reassuring style, coupled with the catchy slogan Lets back Jack. Attracted many new voters to Fianna Fáil, the party had introduced many innovative pieces of legislation during the 1960s and was now looking for a fresh mandate. Fianna Fáil were also helped by a divided opposition. There was tension between the conservative members, who wanted to keep the party as it was. One of the policies proposed to abolish compulsory Irish for State examinations. The Labour Party on the hand were predicted to make massive gains after firmly ruling out a pre-election pact with Fine Gael. The party fielded a number of new, high-profile candidates, including Justin Keating, Conor Cruise OBrien, David Thornley, the slogan The Seventies will be Socialist was popular with Labour supporters, however, Fianna Fáil played the red card, linking the Labour Party with communism. The result marked a third victory for Fianna Fáil, led by Jack Lynch. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael each lost votes, yet gained seats, Labour gained votes, yet lost seats. A total of 37 TDs were elected for the first time, Eugene Timmons Lionel Booth Paddy Clohessy Seán Collins John A

The campaign car of Joseph McGuinness, who won the 1917 South Longford by-election whilst imprisoned. He was one of the first Sinn Féin members to be elected. In 1921 he sided with Collins in the Treaty debate.